Box

The Wheel of Death

I told one of my CFS/ME friends that having this disease is like being on a bad carnie ride we call the Wheel of Death -a nightmare of being stuck on a carnival ride that is controlled by a maniac. Sadly the journey takes you on paths you really don't want to go on from waking up in physical and mental paralysis, to the horror of watching your life pass by without resolve.

Perhaps one of the biggest obstacles is how we deal with the people around us and the most difficult, the medical system. There seems to be some obvious things to me and when I see it in all of its simplicity and realize others do not then I always ask myself "Is it just me?"

I am not sure what the medical system really offers in terms of service. For me it would compare to me taking a lawnmower that does not start and having them tell me that it is the fault of the lawnmower- maybe it has a mental problem. Then of course I have to pay professional fees for horrible service. This confuses me.

Apparently I am not the only one since this person (and the many others I talk to) had the same issues. http://thebillfold.com/2013/06/i-had-a-mysterious-debilitating-undiagnosable-illness/

Economic Impact of Infectious Disease

Disease impacts more than just the physical, it is like a hurricane than tears threw several layers including self-esteem, societal arenas, psychological
health, career pursuits and economics.



World wide costs to treat infectious disease cannot be accurately measured but is estimated to in the billions of dollars.



Costs to treat are just one of the factors, the others are the loss of productivity, effect on the families and communities.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3327542/The economic impact of

Painting: by Georges Seurat - Metropolitan Museum of Art. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons -

Tears

I talked with a close friend whom I know because of our shared disabilities. He told me his family wants him to see a psychiatrist because he is sick with infections. Yes that is a correct statement. I often wonder why people make wrong assumptions. Infectious disease is prevalent in not only in Third World countries but in First World as well. Some infections are acute in which they can kill rapidly (Malaria etc) while other infections can lay dormant but cause problems, some of them severe.

I spend much time in studying human behavior (psychology, societal trends etc) to help me understand why my journey has been so difficult. I am well convinced that people do not think for themselves but rather allow others to do that for them. Perhaps it is laziness or perhaps they leave the more difficult to the 'experts' - in which case about only 10% of the experts are experts while the rest are better actors*.

There are acute infections and sub-acute infections. The former (acute) kill while the latter (sub acute) torment people in various ways. There is much supportive evidence that mental illness has a origin in pathogens . Heart disease, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, auto immune and cancer have all shown that pathogens are linked either directly or indirectly to these diseases however the status quo denies these truths in favor for antiquated thought leading the patient down darkened paths that lead nowhere. 

In order for people to recover, the medical system needs to find the beginning and not the end of the stream otherwise people suffer needlessly. The medical system needs to educate itself on the current findings of the avant garde research, not only will this save billions of dollars wasted on non-effective treatments but allow people to live happy and productive lives.

The role of infections in mental illness

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/infected-with-insanity/

The role of infections in autoimmune disease

A M Ercolini and S D Miller

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2665673/

The role of infections in cancer

 de Martel C, Ferlay J, Franceschi S, Vignat J, Bray F, Forman D, Plummer M (June 2012). "Global burden of cancers attributable to infections in 2008: a review and synthetic analysis". Lancet Oncol 2012 13 (6): 607–615. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(12)70137-7. PMID 22575588.

The role of infection in heart disease

The role of infection in atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease: a new therapeutic target.

Ismail A1, Khosravi H, Olson H.

The role of infection in arthritis

The role of infection in inflammatory arthritis 

J.S.H. GASTON

*even experts are wrong some of the time.

Painting: Georges Seurat 066" by Georges Seurat - Metropolitan Museum of Art. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons -